Is director Sami Raimi writing a fourth “Evil Dead” movie with his brother that he’ll then eventually go on to make? If you were to take his comments from late last week at face value (why wouldn’t you?), then yes. During a Meet the Filmmakers event in London promoting “Oz the Great and Powerful,” Raimi told the crowd just that. But it turns out the filmmaker was overstating the case himself, as he elaborated in a subsequent solo interview that the crowd egged him on to say that and it’s not quite the case.

“Those guys made me say that,” he said backpedaling. “I am thinking about it but a crowd goes ‘Come on Sam, do it!’ so I said ‘Okay, I guess I was talking to my brother about it’ But I feel like I was pushed into saying that, a little bit. In the hallway today I joked with Ivan [Raimi, his brother] ‘Get working on that script!’ but I really don’t know.”

Buzzkill, Sam. So it sounds, in many ways, like Raimi not wanting to disappoint the fans and speaking a little out of turn.

“I’m afraid that every time I talk about it people get really mad at me when I don’t follow through with it. I would like to work on the script over the summer, that much is true. But the reason to come back and do it again is only that they’re making me, those fans.

I was saying to Ivan ‘Why do they stay on this thing? Why do they keep at it?’ and he said ‘They want to make a movie. You’re a filmmaker and your fans are asking you to make the movie. What are you, an idiot? Make the movie!’ I guess there’s something I don’t see. It makes sense when Ivan says it… but I didn’t have a tremendous amount of passion until right now to bring to it.

I love working with Bruce Campbell and Rob Tapert, I have so much fun making those movies, so… but the fans are really forcing me into it.”

Fanboys will look at the glass half full of that statement, but a realistic survey says, “Evil Dead 4″? In your dreams. [Bleeding Cool]